E12 B'Rel (Bird of Prey) Class
Originally a Romulan design, the B'Rel was the first Klingon ship designed from the outset with a Cloaking Device. Fast and very powerful for her size, the B'Rel is the first ship most KDF Commanders are given a captaincy of. This has lead to a chequered history, as several of these young and eager Commanders have engaged in unsanctioned attacks on the United Federation of Planets, seeking glory and honour. Never the less, when properly captained, the B'Rel can be a threat even to a Constitution Class Refit Heavy Cruiser. Development In 2249, the Klingon Empire under the leadership of Chancellor Durak, signed the Treaty of Korvat with the Federation, a treaty that both powers knew was temporary at best. In order to strengthen the Empire for the time when this treaty would be broken (Klingon strategists correctly theorised that the Federation was as likely to break the treaty as they were), an alliance was signed with the Romulan Star Empire, at that time still withdrawn from contact with the Federation after their humiliating defeat in the Earth-Romulan War. Part of this alliance was a technology exchange. The Romulans desired modern, M/AM Warp Drive, (as they were still using Nuclear Fusion based Warp at this point, which greatly limited their vessels' range and power reserves) and Military Theorists in the Empire could see a great potential in acquiring Romulan Cloaking Technology. These technologies were exchanged in the form of starships, with the Empire providing the Romulans with several obsolete D6 Kl'ar (Leader) Class Heavy Cruisers, and in return received three Kite Class Escorts. Fittingly, both classes were considered beyond useful service, and accordingly had obsolete examples of the technology they were fitted with. (The Klingon High Council were not without cunning, to the surprise of the Romulans). It was found to be a relatively simple task to fit the current D7 qItI'tinga' (Great Powerful Conqueror) Class Heavy Cruiser with a cloaking device, modified to work with Klingon systems. The resulting refits entered service in 2255 as the D7A qItI'tinga' (Great Powerful Conqueror) Class. Captains were order not to decloak within sensor range of a Federation starship or facility, so as to hide the fact that they had acquired Cloaking Technology. Meanwhile, smaller vessels such as the F5 pIH (Suspicious) Class were being refit with Cloaking Devices, and in the arms race that began between the Empire and the Federation, the original Kite Class hulls were examined. Development of a light starship based on those hulls began in 2269, with full production of the new E12 B'Rel Class beginning in 2272. In 2280, Colonel Galt’naH used the B'Rel as a basis for a larger vessel to fill the Destroyer role. After a convoluted (and dangerous) design process, this design became the F15 QuD (Insurrection) Class Destroyer and later the F15L VoD (Captain) Class Destroyer Leader. Operational History It soon became apparent that the diminutive B'Rel was one of the finest starships ever produced for the Klingon Defence Force. Her existence was again kept a secret from Starfleet Intelligence, although she had become an open secret by the end of the 2270s. Whilst having served in various skirmishes during her early career, her first encounter involving the Federation was during the Genesis Incident in 2283 when Commander Kruge crossed the Federation Neutral Zone to recover the Genesis Device, a technological breakthrough capable of being used as a terrible weapon. His B'Rel, the IKS Qel'Poh, was later captured by Admiral James T. Kirk and used on a dangerous mission to travel back in time to acquire a pair of Humpback Whales during the Whale Probe Crisis in 2284. This unwitting field test showed the great strength of the B'Rel's spaceframe and the high warp speeds she could attain, albeit with some damage. The Qui’Tu Incident a little over a year later again saw the involvement of the B’Rel. The commanding officer of the IKS Ok'RonA, Captain Klaa, attempted to initiate an ill-conceived and poorly executed attack on the newly launched USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A). The incident, involving the brainwashing of General Koord, a fairly well placed diplomat, by a supposedly renegade emotional Vulcan resolved itself quietly. Though the Imperial Intelligence Service exonerated General Koord of any suspicion of divulging state secrets, the implausibility of an emotional Vulcan, and the nature of his relationship to Captain Spock left some doubts in their minds as to whether or not the incident was in fact engineered by the Federation. These doubts were part of the catalyst that lead to the outbreak of the Organian Conflict later in 2285. The B'Rel quickly proved herself to be an excellent combat vessel, capable in small groups of overpowering far larger vessels. Her speed, manoeuvrability and cloaking capabilities gave her unmatched advantages in combat, although she did prove too vulnerable to participate in large fleet engagements. During this conflict she began to take over the roles previously assigned to the F5B pIH (Suspicious) Class, although never fully supplanting the older vessel (indeed, the most common combat formation involving either class was that of a pair or trio of B'Rels with a single pIH Battle Frigate as a command ship). The B'Rel proved to be capable of outflanking ISC formations during the subsequent War of Pacification, but lacked the firepower to face the vessels of the Interstellar Pacification Force one-on-one. Again, greater numbers and tactics won the day. The KDF withdrew from anti-Concordium operations in 2291 following an attempted Ormong by Kalnor of the House of G'Iogh. Shortly after this insurrection was put down personally by General Chang, Chancellor Lorak died of the illness that had been the impetus behind the Ormong. The B'Rel was heavily involved in the brief uprising, and even more so in a second Ormong precipitated by Kalnor's half-brother, Melkor, several months later. A highly modified B'Rel under the overall command of General Chang was instrumental in bringing the Ormong of 2291 to an end. (See IKS guHmoH and E12X Experimental B'Rel Class) The exposure of Romulan involvement ended the Klingo-Romulan Alliance and perpetuated a short but bloody border war. Again, the B'Rel was called into action, although mainly for scouting. The seizure of power from the new Chancellor, Gorkon by the traitorous Melkor in 2292 lead to further conflict with the Federation, with B'Rels serving in every major engagement of the General War. Apocrypha The B'Rel had another dark chapter added to her chequered history in 2293 when General Chang, unhappy at Chancellor Gorkon's peace overtures with the Federation, assassinated him using the same highly modified B'Rel his subordinates had used to spy upon Melkor. Managing to initially frame Captain James T. Kirk and his Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Leonard McCoy, for the crime, Chang was eventually outed, and he and his B'Rel, the IKS guHmoH, were defeated in combat above Camp Khitomer. In the Khitomer Accords that followed, the technology that enabled the IKS guHmoH to fire Photon Torpedoes whilst cloaked was outlawed, but the B'Rel Class herself remained a crucial part of KDF tactics. The Cloaking Device plasma coils on the E12 type were eventually discovered to have a weakness to a low-level ionic pulse, which would trigger the Cloaking Device and in the process lower the B'Rel's shields. This lead to her replacement with the more modern E15 B'Rel (Bird of Prey) Class in the 2350s, although many of the older E12 type lingered on in House ownership. Around this same time period, a much enlarged B'Rel design was proposed and built. This class was known as the D9 K'Vort (Great Eagle) Class and entered service a Cruiser. Specifications * Class: 'Escort * 'Hull Type Designation: '''KEC * '''Length: 92m * Crew: 17 * Warp Nacelles: '''1 * '''Maximum Sublight Speed: 4425 k/s (44.25 Mk/s) * Cruise Warp Factor Speed: wf 8.5 * Safe Maximum Warp Factor Speed: wf 9.6 * Hull Rating: '140 HSF * 'Shield Rating: 220 FSP * Sensor Rating: 600 SRU * Armament and Equipment: ** Primary *** 2 × Light Disruptor Cannon ** Secondary *** 1 × Photon Torpedo Tube ** Heavy *** None ** Advanced *** None ** Equipment *** Tractor Beam Emitter *** Klingon-Type Cloaking Device *** Probes Ships in Service (2292) IKS piqPegH IKS ChuVon IKS Hurgh’ragh IKS TajHu’ IKS Duy’Hub IKS Begh’poQ IKS Lij'Quch IKS TlhaQQuch IKS TaDmoH IKS QIbHeS IKS Qib'veQ IKS Sip'a'jor IKS NobHIvje' IKS JoS'ghom IKS Majbe'HOM IKS VavnI'pI IKS SuD'mol IKS Meb'avwI' IKS QaStaH Nug IKS Nugneh IKS JtyaI IKS MajQa IKS NuqDag IKS Pe’el IKS HIgohS IKS NaDevvo IKS LojmiT IKS YImpoSmoH IKS YiDoqhqo IKS Hegh’lu’meh IKS Jajvam IKS GosIIj IKS DatIvjaj IKS Qoy’lu’pu IKS BIjatlh IKS BacHa IKS BeghneQ IKS Bahjan IKS BetleHbey IKS BaQa IKS BIQ IKS BiQSIp IKS BIrheQtagH IKS BIS’ub IKS BIres IKS tlHoy IKS BogHa IKS Bo’Degh IKS ChaDvey IKS Cha’bIp Category:Klingon Vessels Category:Escorts